Weber opens up about career ahead of Hockey Hall of Fame induction

Defenseman Shea Weber will be enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday, elected in his first year of eligibility and celebrated for his exemplary leadership, championship pedigree, thunderous slap shot and bone-crushing style of play.

Renowned, too, for his economy of speech, his actions forever having spoken more loudly than his business-like words, Weber is unlikely to mention this in his induction remarks.

So let’s do so here, from his memory.

It was as Nashville Predators captain that he and his teammates arrived at their hotel in Tampa, Florida, in the wee hours following a game the night before.

“This was more of a revenge prank because Sid got me first,” Weber began brightly, speaking of Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby. “We’d got into Tampa late, all I wanted to do was hit the bed, I opened my door and thought, ‘Holy cow, what’s going on here?’”

Kelowna Rockets’ Shea Weber congratulates Rimouski Oceanic’s Sidney Crosby following Rimouski having eliminated Kelowna from the 2005 Memorial Cup tournament in London, Ontario; Pittsburgh Penguins’ Crosby (left) and Nashville Predators’ Weber work the draft floor during the 2010 NHL Entry Draft at Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Weber and Crosby would win Olympic gold for Canada in 2010 and 2014, win the World Cup of Hockey 2016 and participate together in the NHL All-Star Game. A friendship that had taken root in their junior hockey days -- Weber with Kelowna of the Western Hockey League, Crosby with Rimouski of what was then the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League -- now mischievously uprooted a Tampa hotel room.

Crosby and world-class prankster Marc-Andre Fleury (Weber would later learn the goalie also was involved), in town with the Penguins and presumably staying at the same hotel, somehow had got their hands on the Predators’ rooming list, scored a key and prepared Weber’s room for his arrival.

“They tornado’d it,” Weber said, laughing. “The mattress was flipped upside down, toilet paper was everywhere. It was pretty funny, when I think about it now.

“I went down to the rink the next morning, where the Penguins were having a skate, and I kind of put some gum in Sid’s gloves and Vaseline’d his helmet, just to let him know he didn’t want to start a war. He didn’t say anything at the time and I was thinking, ‘Oh boy, I know Sid’s superstitious and a stickler with his stuff, I must have messed something up.’ We only talked about it years later, and Sid had a good laugh about it.

Nashville Predators defenseman Shea Weber in action against the San Jose Sharks on March 11, 2006 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California. It was Weber’s 12th NHL game.

“Is it over?” Weber said, repeating a question, mischief in his voice. “I don’t know … maybe something’s coming down the line.”

One day, Crosby surely will join Weber in the Hall of Fame, old friends united again. On Monday, with Crosby in Dallas to play the Stars and Weber in Toronto for his induction, presumably gloves, a helmet and a hotel room are safe.

Weber will be honored for a magnificent body of work, one that is missing a Stanley Cup championship but has most everything else.

The 39-year-old native of Sicamous, British Columbia, played 1,038 NHL games from 2006 until 2021, when wear and tear to his 6-foot-4, 230-pound body and a shopping list of injuries finally left him unable to play any longer.

Shea Weber flips a puck during warm-up before Game 5 of the 2021 Stanley Cup Final between the Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on July 07, 2021, ultimately Weber’s final NHL game; in his 2003 NHL Draft portrait.

His record shows 763 regular-season games for the Predators in 11 seasons from 2005-06 to 2015-16, then 275 more for the Montreal Canadiens over his final five seasons. Add 97 Stanley Cup Playoff games to that career ledger, including 22 in the Canadiens’ run to the Cup Final in 2021.

Weber skated off the ice for the final time on July 7, 2021, at Tampa’s Amalie Arena, the Tampa Bay Lightning having defeated the Canadiens in a five-game Final.

Traded to the Vegas Golden Knights on June 16, 2022 -- in effect, a move for NHL salary cap purposes -- Weber then was moved to the Arizona Coyotes on Feb. 22, 2023, ultimately becoming a member of the Utah Hockey Club when that franchise was established for this season.

The last two years of his 14-year contract are property of Utah, though it’s virtually certain his playing days are done. Still to be worked out is what role he might play with the NHL’s newest team.

Shea Weber with his 2010 Vancouver Olympic gold medal and following Canada’s championship victory in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey in Toronto.

In addition to his Olympic golds with Canada, Weber won the 2005 IIHF World Junior Championship and 2007 IIHF World Championship representing his native country.

He was a vital part of Canada’s triumphant World Cup of Hockey 2016 effort; won the 2004 Memorial Cup with Kelowna, twice playing on its WHL championship teams; and three times was a finalist for the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s best defenseman, finishing as runner-up twice, by nine and 12 votes.

In 2016 while with the Predators, he was presented the Mark Messier Leadership Award, since 2007 voted to the player who exemplifies great leadership on and off the ice while playing a leading role in his community to grow the game.

Weber had 589 regular-season NHL points (224 goals, 365 assists) in 1,038 games. Since the statistical categories have been charted, among defensemen his 2,112 hits rank sixth, his ice time of 24:04 ranks 13th, and his 1,691 blocked shots rank 23rd. Each of the four times he took part in the NHL’s hardest shot competition staged during All-Star Weekend, in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2020, he won.

Shea Weber’s first NHL game on Jan. 6, 2006 merited a photo in the next day’s Nashville Tennessean newspaper; Weber in a 2016 NHL All-Star Game portrait.

“Rattle off my career to me like that, my minor and junior hockey and everything else … it’s hard to believe almost,” Weber told NHL.com in the days leading to his induction. “Everyone says they’re going to put things in perspective when they’re done. When you’re in it, you don’t realize it. I still reflect on the times and memories I have, but until I see it on paper or hear it read off to me, it doesn’t sink in.”

Indeed, news of Weber’s Hall of Fame election deflected off him on June 25 when members of the Class of 2024 were contacted by the Toronto shrine a few hours ahead of the official announcement.

On the ninth green during a golf tournament, he ignored two calls from the Hall of Fame, not recognizing the incoming number. Chairman Lanny McDonald and selection committee chairman Mike Gartner finally reached him as he approached the 10th tee, their message dropping him to his knees.

Weber expects he might be a little weak-kneed again on Monday at Toronto’s Brookfield Place, celebrated in the company of his wife, Bailey; their children Beckett, 10, Kenley, 8, and Maddix, 6; his father, James; and family and friends.

Shea Weber of the Nashville Predators poses for a 2007 Western Conference YoungStars portrait at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, part of that year’s NHL All-Star Game festivities.

Inductees are asked to keep their speeches for the televised event to between five and seven minutes. Weber, spare with a public word at the best of times, gets a chuckle out of that.

“I don’t think they have to worry about me going over the time limit,” he said. “I hope I don’t miss anyone. Many people have touched my career and life and I’m thankful for them. This is giving me a chance to reflect on those people and appreciate everyone who’s been a part of it.”

Weber’s career began in the minor hockey program in tiny Sicamous, a whistle-stop of 2,613 residents per the 2021 national census, 300 miles northeast of Vancouver. It would take him to hockey’s greatest arenas in North America and many abroad, as an amateur and a professional.

He played his 1,000th NHL game on Feb. 2, 2021, five months before he laced his NHL skates for the final time in the Stanley Cup Final for the Canadiens, and reflected on his hockey life.

Shea Weber plays the Pro Hockey Life Shootout in the NHLPA Be A Player Zone on July 11, 2005 at the Hockey Hall of Fame; Weber on the Nashville Predators bench during a 2015 game.

“As a kid, you dream of playing in the NHL,” Weber said. “You think that it’s going to come true, and you imagine it. Realistically, it’s a lot tougher than people realize and it’s tough to do, so just making it here is really special. Make it this long and having a career this many games is something that I never really imagined. … It’s pretty surreal.”

Now, his Hall of Fame induction at hand, Weber remembers his roots more than any single achievement in hockey, smaller rosters in the Sicamous and District Minor Hockey Association providing plenty of ice time.

“Pretty amazing coming from a small town like I did, the community we had, the players I grew up and played with,” Weber said. “My parents were the biggest factor in anything I was going to do -- hockey, baseball, whatever sport, or any job I’d have if I didn’t make it in hockey.”

Weber learned much of his work ethic from his father, a sawmill worker. His mother, Tracy, was a steady, guiding family force until she was lost to cancer on Aug. 11, 2010, James Weber and sons Shea and Brandon, two years Shea’s junior, at her bedside when she died.

Canada’s Shea Weber watches a flying puck near the head of Slovakia’s Miroslav Satan during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

“My parents were the biggest factor in showing me how to work hard, be a good person first, not just a hockey player,” Weber said. “It was more about doing the right things and being a good person. They taught me that if you put in the hard work, you’ll be rewarded for it.”

Tracy Weber was with her NHL-bound son in Nashville when then-Predators general manager David Poile made him a second-round choice (No. 49) in the 2003 NHL Draft. With the No. 1 pick, the Penguins selected Fleury, who more than a decade later would help to uniquely make up a Tampa hotel room.

Over 11 years, Weber grew as a player and a man in Nashville, embraced by his organization, teammates and fans. Among the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2024 is Poile, the Predators’ first GM, who held the position from 1997 until his retirement in 2023.

“Nashville drafted me, saw something in me as a young kid then gave me a chance to play,” Weber said. “I know a lot of players who were drafted and didn’t get that chance. You need an opportunity and I’m very thankful to David Poile and the Predators for giving that to me.”

Weber’s slap shot -- clocked at an average 106.5 mph in his four All-Star Weekend hardest-shot victories -- soon would be feared by opponents and goalie-screening teammates alike, a handful having suffered broken bones when felled by his cannon blasts.

Montreal Canadiens captain Shea Weber during a pause in the action of a 2018 game at American Airlines Center in Dallas.

“I’d stand in front of one of my shots,” he said with a laugh, that question put to him. “I stood in front of [Zdeno] Chara’s and [Sheldon] Souray’s shots, so I think I would. It’s part of the game that I knew had to be done.

“I appreciate any opponent who puts their body on the line and blocks shots. And my teammates who would go to the front of the net and take numerous pucks, paying the price like that. I have nothing but the most respect for guys who do that.

“They’re willing to do whatever it takes for the team to win -- heart-and-soul guys that you win with, guys who do things that aren’t pretty or fancy but get the job done for their team.”

Weber was named the fifth captain in Predators history on July 8, 2010. He was watching TV at home in British Columbia when he took a call from Poile and then-coach Barry Trotz.

“I hadn’t been a captain since minor hockey,” he said. “I wore a letter in Kelowna a couple years, an ‘A.’ I was elated, probably in shock, when David and Barry called. In my mind I was still kind of a younger guy (then 24) to be captain.

Canadiens captain Shea Weber (far right) poses on Montreal’s Bell Centre ice with former team captains during a 2019 ceremony honoring the 110th anniversary of the franchise. From left: Saku Koivu, Vincent Damphousse, Guy Carbonneau, Chris Chelios, Serge Savard, Yvan Cournoyer, Bob Gainey, Kirk Muller, Mike Keane, Pierre Turgeon and Brian Gionta.

“I knew it would be a lot of work but I was excited to take on that challenge, try to drive that team to be successful and build a good foundation for a bunch of years to come.”

He wore the ‘C’ for six seasons, until the stunning 1-for-1 trade on June 29, 2016, that sent him to the Canadiens for Montreal fan-favorite defenseman P.K. Subban.

“If I’m being honest, it was one of the saddest days of my career,” Weber recalled. “The team that drafted you, named you captain. … I put my heart on the line for the 11 years I was there, did everything I could to try to help that team win. At first sight, I saw the trade as the team not wanting me anymore, kicking me to the curb after everything I’ve done for them.

“But as the day goes on, you realize you’re getting an opportunity somewhere else, in a great city like Montreal, with the history and all the (24) Stanley Cups. To try to do the same for them would be an honor and a goal. Talking to people on the other (Canadiens) side, I got more excited and pumped up to go to a new team and help their cause, to get to the next level.”

He quickly learned that he was now in a very different hockey market. Prior to his third season, the Canadiens named him the 30th captain in franchise history, and he wore the ‘C’ through his final NHL game.

“Montreal was definitely different than Nashville,” Weber said. “The microscope that you’re under … When the Predators came to Montreal or Toronto, the dressing rooms were a lot more full than they were in Nashville when we had one or two reporters after a game. Definitely an adjustment period.

Canadiens captain Shea Weber before the team’s 2019-20 season-opening charity golf tournament.

“But on the team side of it, it was such a huge honor. To wear the ‘C’ in a city like Montreal with all the history it has, all the former captains before me, the names I’d look up and see in the dressing room, it’s hard to put into words what it meant.

“You’re named captain for a reason. You don’t change anything. You’re obviously doing something that reflects leadership so you stick to your morals and values, the way you work and how you want to build the foundation of your core.”

Weber remembers all of this now and will try to distill it into seven -- probably fewer -- minutes when he is inducted with the Class of 2024. It’s the fans, he said, who made this journey very special, and they will forever have a unique place in his heart.

“I can’t thank the fans in Nashville and Montreal enough,” he said. “The support they showed me for my career, starting in Nashville as a young kid -- I really was a young kid, 20, 21 when I started there -- I was still growing up and it became my home for 11 years. They welcomed me into their community, in a great city that I love.

“Then the fans in Montreal -- their passion is second to none for their sport. Welcoming me after the trade, making me feel comfortable, the cheers, the playoff run, the time we had in Montreal, I can’t say enough about the memories I’ll have in that city, all the good times we had.”

Top photo: Shea Weber participates in the Enterprise NHL Hardest Shot contest during the 2020 NHL All-Star Skills competition at Enterprise Center in St Louis, Missouri. Weber won the event with a shot of 105.9 mph, his fourth victory in his four times taking part.